


Target Practice

by InterstellarVagabond



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Healthy Polyamory, M/M, Multi, North and Connor are rowdy and Markus is a soft artist boy, Polyamory, in which nothing really happens but they're all very tender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 04:18:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18003674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterstellarVagabond/pseuds/InterstellarVagabond
Summary: Connor and North blow off some steam with bottles and a sniper rifle, Markus watches in awe of his two rowdy partners, the three of them take a nap.





	Target Practice

Last time Markus had checked, shrapnel had not been part of the weather forecast for today. Yet, somehow, he found little pieces of ceramic raining down on him as he walked towards the former Cyberlife Tower. 

He’d been distracted at first. Taking a moment to look over the building, which was in all ways a monument to the issues he’d fought so hard to put an end to, now a home for his people.All thanks to months of fighting and living in a hollowed out church, or in the case of some like Connor, with whatever humans would house them. He’d been distracted by the reconciliation of these ideas, the painful past with the optimistic future, and so was very surprised when he felt ceramic rain down on his shoulder. 

He peered up, having to squint against the setting sun despite years of improvements on android optical units, and while his eyes failed to spot the source of the debris his ears picked up on it in seconds. There was a gunshot, ringing out a bit softly with distance, and then Markus saw something sparkling in the air. Glass, he guessed, though it fell too far away for him to tell. 

Markus shook his head with a fond sigh, and entered the building.

New Jericho was still in production, only the volunteers had been moved in so far as they got to work scraping off Cyberlife logos and fitting the rooms to new purposes like repair or shelter. Markus passed Simon on the way to the elevator, the pair sharing a wave, before Markus stepped inside and told the lift to take him to the roof. 

The roof was covered with a layer of snow, the last of the season if they were lucky. It also held two other occupants besides Markus, who was stepping out towards the other androids with his boots crunching in the white powder. Connor and North stood by each other, North with a sniper rifle braced against the railing and Connor holding a bottle. Markus assumed it was one of the many bottles and plates that sat in a sizable recycling bin next to the pair. He watched as Connor pulled back and launched the bottle, an action followed by North taking aim and firing. The bottle was blasted into beautiful green bits that shone in the sunset before raining down below.

“You know, some would consider this a serious hazard,” Markus said, folding his arms over his chest. 

If Connor and North were startled by his arrival or felt any shame at all for their actions, they didn’t show it. Instead, they just swapped places, Connor to the gun and North to the targets. 

“No one’s around,” North said, choosing a cracked dusty plate and tossing it like a frisbee into the air. Connor fired even faster than North, and for a moment it was clear just how dangerous he could be. Well, until he lifted his eye from the scope and gave Markus and North that ‘did I do a good job?’ puppy dog look with the big brown eyes and the dopey grin. 

“I was around,” Markus said, making a big show of brushing debris from his stylish coat. 

“Poor baby,” North cooed with a smirk. “We just had to blow off some steam.”

“Most people try a hobby before they reach for the firearms,” Markus said. “Have you two ever considered painting?”

“Cyberlife Tower does not have a fully stocked art room,” Connor remakred. “However, their security team did leave behind a sizable weaponry upon evacuating the premises, and have not returned to claim the weapons.”

“You work with what you got,” North said, taking the gun back from Connor. He chose a plate and tossed it, North fired and got another bullseye. “And this is our hobby. I think destroying things is very cathartic, don’t you Connor?”

“I’m still not sure I can recognize emotional catharsis when I feel it,” Connor said thoughtfully. “However, I am certain that this activity is ‘badass.’”

Markus rolled his eyes, finding it hard to scold a pair like them. Watching them hone their deadly skills with childlike glee on their faces in the romantic light of the setting sun really only inspired warmth in him. He tried to find it in himself to tell them to put everything back where they found it, but they had a point. If anyone around here was working harder than Markus it was North and Connor, and they deserved a break of their choosing. He didn’t understand it, but if shooting garbage was how they chose to unwind then he’d just have to stay confused and covered in shattered plates. 

Markus gestured towards the recycling bin as Connor took the rifle back. “May I?”

North stepped aside with a nod, so Markus picked up a bottle and then threw it as hard as he could. He was almost startled when it shattered with an ear splitting bang seconds after it left his fingers. 

“Yeah, I think I’ll stick to painting and music,” Markus replied as Connor and North laughed at his expression. 

“We’re almost done here anyway,” Connor said. “We can’t seem to break the tie, so I don’t see any point in going for another hour.”

“He’s just scared cause he knows I’m a better shot,” North said, elbowing Connor in the ribs. “You’ll slip up sometime, pig.”

“I think that’s just wishful thinking, deviant,” Connor replied, carefully disassembling the rifle and putting it away

Markus watched the bickering, a smile growing on his face. He suddenly acted on an urge, throwing his arms each around North and Connor’s waists and drawing them in close. He pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks, receiving plenty of eye rolling for his troubles. His loyal bodyguards and advisors could shoot tiny moving targets all day long but heaven forbid they be faced with emotional vulnerability. It was always eye rolling and playful pushing before North threw an arm around Markus’s shoulder and Connor returned the kiss to the cheek.

Markus pulled away, offering his hand with the skin pulling back. Connor and North returned the gesture, their three hands meeting white and glowing blue in one embrace. Through their connection Markus saw their memories of the day, how they’d worked hard with Simon and Josh to take this old tower and turn it into something new for their people. How they’d planned, rolled up their sleeves and moved around furniture, mapped out where everything would go, their charge levels growing low throughout the day. How they found the armory, and how Connor had given North a sly grin as he informed her of the observation deck on the roof and a brilliant idea he’d just had, how North kissed him and used his distraction to seize the rifle case and run for the elevator with a triumphant cry. The hours they’d spent up on the roof shooting in companionable silence. That was one thing Markus always found puzzlingly beautiful about them, how they could spend hours in complete silence around each other and then walk away saying they’d had a wonderful time. 

_ Not all of us are so wordy  _ Connor thought across  the connection, a memory of one of Markus’s speeches coming to mind. Markus sent back a wave of amusement which the other two picked up and felt as if it was their own. 

No doubt North and Connor had finished sifting through Markus’s memory as well, his long day of meetings and signing papers until he felt like the hours were all blurring into each other and he almost missed the days of marching because at least then he could move and feel like he was getting somewhere instead of the constant battling to just stay where they were right now without losing any ground. He could feel their hands cupping around his, supporting him in mind and body. He opened eyes he hadn’t realized he’d closed and found the two of them looking at him. 

Connor always looked at him like he was a puzzle, an admirable puzzle. North looked at him like he was a savior and an idiot all wrapped in one. Under two such gazes, it was hard not to grin sheepishly.

“You need to charge,” Connor broke the silence, pointing out Markus’s battery levels with efficiency and a sense of compassion and affection he was still learning to express.

“I think we all do,” Markus said, the invitation clear. 

There were no bedrooms in New Jericho yet, the idea of sleeping in a bed was still a new concept for androids. They needed to enter a low power state, to allow thirium to replenish their battery and clear any unnecessary open programs from their mind, but beds were still a luxury they were learning to enjoy. There were, however, break rooms which overworked Cyberlife employees had made use of between shifts. Cots and couches and coffee machines, and so North Markus and Connor found their way to one such room. Markus felt exceedingly spoiled when North pushed him into a cot, and Connor knelt down to remove his shoes. He tried to protest, but North poked him in the side to quiet him before pulling off his coat. 

They ended up using the coat, Connor (who hated the cold in a way most androids didn’t understand) pulling it over the three of them like a blanket too small to really make much difference. Markus and North found their heads resting on Connor’s chest, his arms wrapped around the pair of them. Feeling safe with the two people he loved, Markus easily drifted off, soon followed by North, and last by the ever vigilant Connor after a bit of watching the others with soft awe and affection. 


End file.
